To Heed the Heart's Desire
by Swythangel
Summary: 3x4 fic A retelling of the Little Mermaid...*not* Disney's ^-^ and yes, i know i'm awful with summaries *lol*
1.

Heyla minna-san Heyla minna-san! This is the first time I ever wrote a TQ fic so I hope it measures up. And er, WK peeps? I'm working on my other fics, I really am! ^^ 

Author: Swythangel   
Email: swythangel@hotmail.com   
Title: To Heed the Heart's Desire   
Rating: PG (for shounen ai content)   
Warnings: Strong Language, Slash, Fantasy AU   
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Bandai and a passel of other people I never bothered to find out about. It just depresses me to see all those bishies as someone else's property.   
Archive: [Blinks]You'd seriously consider archiving this? >. Just tell me then ^^ 

**To Heed the Heart's Desire**   
**Part 1**

The sea was an emerald jewel, forever changing and moving. If one were to scoop up a handful of its cool waters again and again, one would never be able to capture the same handful on the second dip. Such was the sea, almost ephemeral in its elusive quality. 

/And such a mystery to us humans./ Trowa mused, as he stared out at the undulating waves with eyes the same emerald as the sea. There was just something about it that called to him, called to his soul and calmed his restless spirit. It had ever been thus with him, even while he had been a lad of young years. It was as if the sea was his second home. 

His father would have called it foolishness, an imagination run wild. But then, his father had been a staid, traditional man much inclined to pragmatic thinking than youthful fancies. 

Not that Trowa was much better. He wasn't really a dreamer. In truth, he was quite the opposite. He was as staid and pragmatic as his father was. Even as a child Trowa was reserved and silent most of the time. It was only the sea that evoked such feelings in him that could make him wax lyrical thoughts at all. A fact that his father did not appreciate. Ever had his father and he been at odds with their views in this and much time had been spent in companionable argument. 

Arguments that Trowa missed as his father had passed away years ago, as had his mother. A regent ruled the country until the time Trowa turned seventeen. 

And today, Trowa was officially seventeen. As a gift, the regent gave him this magnificent ship on which to sail the vastness of any ocean as King of Astoria. 

Trowa should have been thrilled. He was now King, he had a wonderful country to rule and he had this magnificent vessel in which to sail with on his free time. 

But he was not. And he didn't know why. 

It was just this niggling feeling that something was dreadfully missing in his life, something he could not put a finger to… 

_/Oh, Do not be so whimsical, Trowa. It must be nothing./_Trowa dismissed the feeling and turned back to the crew who were feasting on board in honor of his natal day. 

*** 

"Do not go so fast, my Prince! You might figure in an accident." The normally low bass voice was high and shrill in panic as he strove to catch up with an overenthusiastic royal. 

"Oh, don't be such a dry blanket, Abdul!" A golden-haired merboy laughed back at one of his guardians, not slowing down in the least to accommodate the 40 odd mermans swimming after him. 

"Prince Quatre!" The head of his guardians' big voice boomed out in the green depths of the ocean as Rashid flipped his powerful iridescent tail to catch up with the slight merboy. A reproving gare was set firmly on his face. "You will slow down this instant and we will proceed at a more sedate pace." 

"But, Rashid!" Quatre's expressive aquamarine eyes pleaded as his own iridescent tail swished in barely controlled excitement. "Today is the day I'm finally old enough to be allowed to go to the surface. I want to see so many things! 

"If we don't hurry, we'll never make it before the sun sets. And I want to see this wondrous globe everyone keeps raving about." 

Rashid's granite face softened, unable to resist the pleading blue-green orbs that danced with golden lights in their excitement. 

"Alright…but not too…" 

Even before Rashid could finished his sentence, the golden Prince was off like a hyperactive dolphin, whizzing past the other Maguanacs and up towards the ocean's surface. 

Rashid shook his head. /He is going to be the death of me./ With a glare at the other Maguanacs who were standing dazed, he barked out commands. "What are you all standing goggle-eyed like useless goldfishes?" 

The Maguanacs transferred their stares to him. And Rashid's face grew livid. 

"Follow him!" He roared. 

In the next instant, all 40 of the merman corps pledged to protect one little merboy zoomed up into the briny blue surface, following in the wake of the royal Prince of the Seven Seas who had just turned seventeen. 

*** 

/So this is the surface!/ Quatre thought to himself as he stared wonderingly up at the sky and the surrounding sea. /Its…beautiful! Everything is as I thought they would be. Or at least…most of the things….but I thought the sky was suppose to be blue?/ 

A green-haired head erupted from his right, followed by a protesting voice. "Prince Quatre!!!" A heavy note of censure was in the panting voice, winded from the exertion of swimming at a very fast pace. 

Quatre ignored the Maguanac and searched the skies, a roiling mass of gray-black clouds moving at a very agitated pace, for the one thing he had been anticipating. 

"There's no sun is there, Abdul?" Quatre asked the Maguanac who had popped up beside him and now bobbed in the vast ocean's surface. Disappointment flared in the lambent blue-green eyes of the merboy as he flipped fine gold hair out of his face with one pale hand. 

"No, my Prince. I think there's a storm brewing. That's why there isn't any sun." Abdul replied, surprised that the Prince even remembered his name among the 40 Maguanacs. Of course, it probably helped that he was the only one beside the Prince right now, being the only Maguanac fast enough to catch up with the fast-swimming Prince. 

Abdul would have been surprised to know that Quatre knew each of the Maguanacs' names. He might act like the carefree Prince who did not know better but in truth, Quatre was more perceptive and intelligent than anyone gave him credit for. He knew that Abdul, among all the Maguanacs, was immediately distinguishable by the odd black markings over both of his eyes and the big stripe of velvet red in his iridescent tail…much like a carp would look like. 

There were many things the merpeople never knew about Quatre. For instance, they never knew how much of a brilliant strategist their little Prince was. He could even discuss mer-battle tactics with his father or play Game of the Mer-Generals *and* win. 

It was because he was constantly overshadowed by his 29 sisters. The chance of being noticed amidst a sea of golden-haired, aquamarine-eyed replica of one's self was, however beautiful or intelligent one was, next to nil. Quatre had learned a long time ago not to try. 

Not that he hated his sisters for it, because he did not. He loved them dearly and they loved him back. So he contented himself with doing his own thing unnoticed. Sometimes though, he thought it would be nice to be noticed for his accomplishments too. 

It was not worth quibbling about. He didn't have time for such a thought as he looked on with disappointment at the angry sky. His first day on the surface! He couldn't understand why the sun could not oblige him and show its face for him. He grouched. 

"I'm sure there will be other days my Prince! The weather is a changeable thing…" Abdul was droning on and on to an unlistening Quatre who was even now swimming away to find new curiosities to stare at. "Hoy! My Prince! Wait for me." 

/By the soul of Moby Dick! The boy is fast!/ Abdul thought as he swam after his Prince. By this time, the blond was a mere pinpoint in the horizon. 

/Where are Rashid and the others?/ Abdul panted as he reached the excitable young merboy who had apparently seen something of interest now because the princeling was waving his hand frantically at Abdul. /I am a guard! Born to protect and fight, not to serve as a babysitter to a headstrong Prince!/ 

"Look, Abdul!" Quatre said as soon as the Maguanac reached him. "What wondrous curiosity is that?" 

Abdul blinked and followed the merboy's delighted gaze to a vast ship. His eyes widened in alarm. "It is a *human* ship, my Prince. Quick, we must submerge. You know it is forbidden to let human eyes look upon our forms." 

Abdul should have just kept his mouth shut for all the heed Quatre took of his warning. Even now, the precocious merboy was swimming to the ship in entranced fascination. 

/Why me?/ Abdul followed Quatre with a woebegone expression on his face. /O Poseidon! Why me?/ At this time, Abdul was too tired and he followed at a slower pace. 

/A ship!/ Quatre fairly crooned with delight as he stared in fascination at the huge…*mass* in front of him, bobbing in the water. He had heard of such a curiosity from his sisters' stories and had seen sunken too-worn replicas at the ocean bottom but it was the first time he had ever beheld it whole and working. /Oh what treasures this must contain!/ 

He swam faster until he was at the ship's hull. He ran his hands on the material, marveling at the texture when he heard something emanating from the top. 

/What the…/Quatre blinked and as the sounds filtered into his mind, he realized what they were. /Music! It is music! I didn't know humans made music!/ 

Quatre loved music. In fact, next to his strategy lessons and family, it was the one thing that ruled his life. And the sounds coming from above were the kind he loved the most…light airy pieces that evolved into a complex explosion of sensations and emotions. 

He laughed a delighted laugh, reminiscent of tinkling bells as he moved about in the water in time with the music, twirling and circling, and dipping gracefully in time with the wondrous sounds. So lost was he in the music that he did not notice the moment he opened his mouth and sang softly in time with the music. 

*** 

Trowa was *resting* in one of the ship's lifeboats, away from the festivities on board. No, he wasn't hiding, he was resting. After all, it would be bad form for the celebrator of the party to sneak off, even more so when he was the monarch. So Trowa wasn't hiding, he was resting. 

After all, surely being at the party for an hour or so and enduring the presentation of a statue of himself was good enough to assure that he had discharge his duty as grateful birthday boy. 

It was not his subjects' fault if he was the tiniest bit anti-social or that he did not want to indulge in festivities. So he had silently crept away when no one was paying attention to him and found this little haven. 

/Besides, it isn't as if I am not enjoying the music they're playing for me./ Trowa rationalized as he closed his eyes, appreciating the pieces the musicians were playing. He loved those pieces, which was why the musicians chose to play them. 

/They're quite good, I must say./ Trowa thought. He wished he had his flute with him so he could play with the musicians. But he had forgotten to bring it with him. /More's the pity./ He sighed. 

He was about to recline on the hard wooden lifeboat when he heard a strange yet sweetly familiar sound… 

/Like violins…but I swear I did not see any of the musicians with violins…and,/ Trowa swung his head around, straining to hear the ghostly strains,/it is coming from the sea./ 

It was unlike any violin playing he had ever heard. The sweet violin strains reverberated inside his very bones, inflamed his blood and touched his heart. He had to know who was responsible for it. 

/Perhaps a wandering minstrel on his own small craft? I must see. It is the most exquisite playing I have ever encountered./ 

He crept up on the lifeboat's edge to peer down into the water only to find nothing. /Dolt! It was coming from the other side!/ He cursed himself and clambered out of the lifeboat surreptitiously to avoid discovery by his crew when the violin strains stopped abruptly. 

Trowa felt bereft, cast aside. There was a feeling of loss inside of him so deep he couldn't explain it, even to himself… 

*** 

"Prince!" Abdul finally caught up with Quatre only to be scandalized with what the merboy was doing. 

He was crooning. Poseidon's trident! Crooning! 

"Desist at once, Prince Quatre! The humans might hear you." 

Without further warning, he cuffed the semi-oblivious boy on the neck and glared at him, his fear of being discovered by humans overriding any fear of being punished at cuffing a royal member of Triton's household. 

Quatre blinked, dazed. When his eyes finally focused, he realized his error and apologized to Abdul. "I am sorry. I got carried away by the music." He hung his head in embarrassment. 

/Good, he knows what he has done is wrong. Maybe he still has hope./ 

But as quick as a tadpole flicked its tail, Quatre recovered, bobbing up and down in excitement. "Oh, but the music, Abdul, the music! It was exquisite." 

Abdul sighed. /He is hopeless./ 

Thunder cracked in the distance and lightning lit the darkened sky even before Abdul could say a word. 

Quatre started at the unnaturally loud sound. "What was that?" 

"Thunder, My Prince and the light that preceded it was lightning. We had better go to somewhere safer. A storm is coming." 

"But…" 

"No buts. If you wish to watch the ship, then we do so in a place safer than this or we go back now." Abdul searched the horizon and found a small formation of rocks. "There. You can watch from that fair distance and be safe." 

Quatre complied, more from the threat of going back home so early in the day rather than the practicality of the suggestion. 

The two mermen reached the safety of the rocks just in time as the wind picked up and a sudden squall hit the ocean, buffeting the massive ship into suddenly angry undulating waves and punishing winds. 

*** 

"Tighten the main mast!" 

"Someone go down and bail! The water is fast rising in the hold!" 

"Captain!" 

As the ship's crew scurried around the crazily tilting deck of the ship shouting out orders and the ship's condition, Trowa scurried along with them, lending a hand where he could and stepping back when he could do naught more. 

At the moment it looked like the situation was hopeless. The sudden storm that hit them unaware had turned the peaceful sea into a roiling angry mass of danger. The soft undulating waves had turned into raging battering rams, cracking the ship's hull everytime they slammed up against the ship's sides and allowing the salt water to fill the ship's hold. The gentle refreshing wind had turned into a howling banshee, threatening to topple the towering wooden masts and ripping the sails. 

/Ah, the ocean is a very changeable mistress indeed./ 

Trowa knew the ship would not be able to take it anymore. A thought that the Captain echoed as he appeared at Trowa's side. 

"Your Majesty! I advise that you get on into one of the lifeboats. As of the moment they are our only chances of surviving." 

Trowa inclined his head. "Are there sufficient lifeboats for the whole crew?" 

"Yes." The Captain said. 

"Good." Trowa was relieved. He did not think he would be able to get into a lifeboat knowing someone would be left behind. 

"Abandon ship, men!" The Captain roared, sounding the warning bell to let all personnel know of the impending danger of the sinking ship. 

Before Trowa knew it, the Captain was hustling him into a lifeboat and lowering the craft into the roiling ocean, saluting him as he went. "God watch over you, Your Majesty. And if Poseidon permits, we will meet again." 

*** 

On the small rock formation, Quatre sat, watching the scene unfolding before him with confused misgivings. Unidentified emotions were fighting inside him to be heard…fear, panic, anger…they all roiled together in a confusing tangle that made Quatre's heart beat faster. 

"Abdul, what is happening to the ship? And the humans?" Quatre asked, unmindful of the beating rain that hammered on his skin except for the occasional wince as the buffeting wind threw some raindrops hard enough to hurt the merboy's skin. His attention was focused on the unusual going-ons on the ship as men lowered small boats into the sea and rowed as if their life depended on it. 

"Their ship is sinking into the sea. They are trying to save themselves." Abdul told the princeling, his attention also on the men. Almost under his breath, he commented. "They are not likely to survive. Not with mother ocean this rough." 

Unfortunately, Quatre's ears were sensitive enough to hear Abdul's pronouncement. "What? Then we must help them! We cannot let them die!" 

True enough, the lifeboats floating on the wide ocean, overturned one by one as the monstrous waves proved too rough for the little crafts. 

Seeing this, Quatre tried to dive into the ocean to save the floundering men when Abdul held him off. 

"Let me go, Abdul. We have to help them. They are dying." Quatre only spared Abdul a glance. He could finally trace where the emotions he was feeling was coming from. They were coming from the men floundering in the ocean. And it hurt Quatre. 

"No! You more than any other must never forget the rule that governs Poseidon's children! No human must ever set eyes upon one of our kind." 

"But they will die if we don't help!" 

"So be it." Abdul shrugged. "Mother Ocean is a changeable mistress. She will take what she will. If the men die then it is their destiny to do so." 

Quatre stared at Abdul in disbelief. He could hear the deathscreams of the men drowning in the waves as they tore through his insides. He could not, *would not* stand by while they died. 

Utilizing every wile and acrobatic trick he had learned to evade his caretakers, he twisted out of Abdul's restraining hold and swam as fast as his tail could carry him to the people drowning in the water. 

"My Prince!" Abdul's voice calling out his name in panic was the last thing Quatre ever heard before he took off. Regret tinged his aquamarine eyes for the disservice he was doing to the Maguanac but he had chosen his course and he would not turn from it. 

/I am sorry Abdul but it is not in me to let them die. Not when I can feel their pain, not when I can still do something to save them./ 

*** 

/Is this what it is like to die?/ Trowa thought to himself. He had long ago stopped in his useless attempts to swim for anything that resembled the shore as he allowed himself to be battered into the flotsam and jetsam that was once his majestic ship. 

He knew as soon as the lifeboat overturned that there would be no hope for him or the crew. Too far from land to find safe purchase, too strong the wind and waves to ever hope to stay afloat until help came. He had latched onto a piece of driftwood and floated aimlessly, swallowing salt water with every punishing wave that pounded into him. His eyes were blurring and his body tiring, wishing for sleep. 

/I will never even get to finish my seventeenth birthday./ He thought to himself in self-derision. /I guess this is goodbye then…/ 

His half-closed eyes were about to close all the way when he felt an insistent tugging on his arm. /God! To be so annoyed in the moment of my death./ He swiveled his head around in annoyance to find bright sunshine in the middle of the storm. 

/No. It isn't sunlight. It is someone's hair./ 

Hair the color of golden sunlight, undimmed by the torrential rain…and eyes the color of the shifting sea on a bright day staring at him in concern. A beautiful combination set in a pure innocent face. 

"Hold on to me." 

The voice was sweetly melodious and strangely familiar though Trowa could not place it. He blinked at the boy in confusion, trying to find a name to suit the face and finding none. 

/An angel?/ 

He stared in fascinated wonder. /An angel has come to get me./ 

The vision before him scrunched his face in an unangelic irritated frown. "Look, if you do not help me at all, I will not be able to save you by myself." 

/Not an angel…but what?/ Trowa summoned enough strength to hook an arm around the other boy's soldiers. To which the boy beamed at him with an incandescent smile that made Trowa think twice about the boy being an angel again. 

"Now hold on tight, alright? And I will get you unto human land." 

Trowa barely had time to clutch at the boy when the boy took off in the water like a dolphin intent on winning a race, startling a tired Trowa at the sheer speed. 

/On second thought, he isn't an angel. He must be part fish./ It was the last amusing thought in Trowa's head as he finally succumbed to tired slumber, slumping his weight down on his savior. 

*** 

Upon seeing a little patch of land, /Beach. Iria told me these land masses near the ocean are called beaches./ Quatre dragged the unconscious human halfway out of the water, leaving the human's legs in them because he could not go much further. His tail would be painfully abraded by the rocks if he did so. 

Seeing the pale form so still, Quatre laid his head down to the human's chest to listen to the human's heart, finding a strong heart beat. 

/Good. You will live./ 

Quatre smiled as he looked unto the face beside him, marveling at the difference between them. He was fascinated. It was the first time he had ever seen a human. 

He touched the hair, fine fine hair but oh so different from his or from the other mermen. Mermen had green hair except for those of royal blood who, like Quatre had golden hair. It made for a very monochromatic color scheme. 

This human's hair was…wonderfully different. It was the color of some fishes in the ocean, a color he found dull on the fishes but on this human it looked so exotic and…right. It was long and covered one side of the human's face, obscuring one of the human's eyes. 

And the face…so piquant yet strong at the same time. Quatre didn't know how to describe it but the face conveyed a sensitive gentle nature. He wondered if it was true. If the human did have such a personality…because if Quatre relied on the stories his sisters and the other merpeople told him, humans were uncouth, uncivilized, and cruel. 

He looked more closely at the human. This one did not look any of those things. In fact, he looked strangely beautiful, lying there, fast asleep. 

/He does not look so very different from me./ That is, if one discounted the fact that the human had two legs. 

/Legs…I wonder how they feel./ Quatre touched the human's legs hesitantly, marveling at the different feel to his own iridescent sapphire blue tail. /I wonder how it feels to move as they do…to walk on two legs…/ 

Impossible thoughts. A merman could sooner swim through dry land than wish to walk. But Quatre was curious as could be. He had always been unnaturally curious about humans. But had been forbidden to come up to the surface because he had never been old enough. Now he was old enough. 

And wasn't it just his luck that the first human he would see would be this beautiful creature lying beside him. There was something about this one that drew Quatre to him. Even in the almost blinding storm, Quatre had unerringly gone to his side without realizing, because this one's thoughts and emotions burned brighter than the rest, called to him above the rest. 

The human stirred restlessly in his sleep and Quatre placed a hand on his chest to still his movements. "Rest. You need to rest." 

But the movements intensified, growing more violent until Quatre had to lie down on top of the human just to stop him from injuring himself. 

"Honestly!" Quatre muttered to himself. "He has got to be the most contrary creature I've ever met." /Aside from me, that is./ He smiled. 

/Maybe I should sing him a song. Maybe that will make him calm down. Yes. A song might just do the trick./ 

Without further thought, the Prince of the Seas opened his voice and out poured the most melodious violin strains. Quatre did not just sing, he loved each note, pulling it from the place inside his heart, teasing it out and loving it before letting it go, only to catch another one and repeating the process. 

In this, none compared to him. Not Iria or any of the others. He could sing the most tragic song and all would wallow in the depths of despair and sorrow. Or he could sing the most glorious piece to entangle the audience in sublime happiness. It was Quatre's element, Poseidon's gift to this one, Triton's last child. The ability to weave a siren's song. 

It seemed to work as the restless motion ceased and the human's face cleared as he sank back into a deep sleep. 

"That's right, land-ling. Sleep. Until you are well enough to awake." 

Quatre yawned himself. It had been a very long day, even for him. And since there was no sign of Abdul, he decided to stay by the human's side until one of the Maguanacs found him. He laid his head down on the human's chest and promptly fell asleep. 

TBC ^_~ I am a shameless hussy! Comments onegai? Ahohoho! 


	2. The Day After

I would like to thank the wonderful people who commented on this fic I would like to thank the wonderful people who commented on this fic. Lovely lovely people ^-^I would lik to thank the wonderful people who commented on the fic. I love you guys! ^^ I think I'll go write TQ more often ^o^v 

Author: Swythangel   
Email: swythangel@hotmail.com   
Title: To Heed the Heart's Desire   
Rating: PG (for shounen ai content)   
Warnings: Strong Language, Slash, Fantasy AU   
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Bandai and a passel of other people I never bothered to find out about. It just depresses me to see all those bishies as someone else's property.   
Archive: ff.net 

**To Heed the Heart's Desire**   
**Part 2**

Quatre opened his eyes to find himself still on the human's chest. He smiled to himself. It felt right to be there. 

He wouldn't have moved from his position if not for the warm sensation on his back. 

Ever the curious one, he turned to look at what was causing the warmth. He looked up and saw the burning globe in the sky obscured by a few stray gray clouds from the broken storm. 

"The sun!" Quatre cried out in delight and in that moment he completely forgot about the human in favor of the one thing he had obsessed about since the beginning of this journey to the surface. /It is morning already./ 

/The sun!/ He stared in wonderment. It was unlike anything Quatre had imagined, nothing under the sea rivaled it. /Such light…and warmth./ He tried to catch the sunbeams that flittered down near him, delighting in the way his fingers slipped through them as he basked in the warmth. And as was usual when he was on the tides of happiness, Quatre unconsciously crooned out a melody. 

The Prince of the Sea wanted to share this happiness with the human and so turned to look at him. What he saw made Quatre stare at the human with wonderment, the sun forgotten. If he had thought the human beautiful underneath the darkened skies of the storm, it was nothing compared to the scene presented to him now. 

The sun's rays danced on the human's sleep-softened features, warming them until a faint reddish tinge adorned the human's cheeks. Quatre had never seen such a phenomenon before. And he sought to caress the faint tinge, wondering how it felt. All he felt was satiny soft skin. /What a wonderful thing! It does not present discomfort but enhances the land-ling's features./ 

The more he stared, the more Quatre wanted to stay with the human. It was, of course, idiotic to hope for something so impossible. But Quatre was a dreamer, had been a dreamer since he was young. And for these few hours before the Maguanacs found him he could pretend that he could be with this one to find out what it was like to live in a human world, with human things, human dreams. 

With nothing better to do, Quatre started singing again…weaving the formless strands of longing, curiousity and wonder into a song of enchanting sweetness made of sunbeams and wishes. 

*** 

Violins…that was what Trowa heard as he drifted in and out of consciousness, the same violin strains he had heard on board the ship, the exquisite sounds of pure emotion that he was fast learning to identify as belonging to one very talented musician… 

…the same one who rescued him. Trowa realized. For how could he be lying on sand, whole and alive, if the person had not? 

Trowa's brows drew together in worry. /I cannot remember his face./ All he could remember was a voice, a very musical voice that somehow reminded him of the violins. 

He wanted to open his eyes, wanted to see the musician who could coax such wondrous notes from the instrument. The desire to gaze into the face of this person who risked his own life for Trowa's own was strong but his body was too tired and heavy eyelids did not want to obey him. They remained closed and uncooperative even as Trowa willed them to open. 

/Fine! Be like that. What could be the most important time of my life and now it doesn't want to cooperate./ He snorted in self-derision, remembering all the unnecessary times of acrobatic exercise he put in when his body actually moved willingly with his mind. 

So Trowa contented himself with listening, much to his disgruntled disgust at his own body. 

The music was exquisite as always but there was something else, something Trowa could only identify as…impossible longing…embedded in the strains, as if the musician was contemplating something he desperately wanted but could never attain. 

/Sad./ 

Yet even as there was sadness in the music there was also wonder, curiosity, delight…as if the musician still found hope and beauty in his surroundings. 

It was a very unique piece of music. One that sent Trowa plunging into a dark chasm of sadness but before he could hit the bottom, the notes cradled him in gentle arms and soared up into the golden sun, taking him with it. 

/Dreamer./ 

It was the last thoughts he had as he drifted back into sleep, stirring to seek the warmth of the musician's body. 

*** 

The human stirred a little but Quatre did not notice because mermen heads started popping out of the water a few miles away shouting out his name in relief. 

"Prince Quatre!" 

Rashid swam forward, satisfaction clear on his face. "Thank the Sea God that we found you!" He hugged Quatre roughly and Quatre allowed it. Rashid was his father's oldest retainer. He had taken care of Quatre ever since he had been a merling. No one else would have dared. 

"Let us go home, my Prince." 

"But, Rashid, the human has not regained consciousness. I can't very well leave him here." 

Rashid's eyes flared as his eyes took in the human form. "You know as well as I do, my Prince that you have already broken the rule of Poseidon's children. I am willing to overlook that fact seeing that the human would probably never remember you…" 

/Not remember me?/ A flash of regret tore through Quatre though Rashid did not notice Quatre flinch, continuing on with his reprimand. "…I am prepared not to tell your father King Triton of this infraction. As it is, he will be livid, we have spent more than a day on the surface. You well know I will cover for you as best as I can, but only if you come back home with us now." 

The warning was implicit. Quatre knew what his father would do. He would probably be banned from the surface for the rest of his mer-life and worse. Much as he wanted to stay he could not. The punishment was too heavy that it didn't bear contemplating. 

Still, Quatre would not give in without wringing one concession from his guardian. He raised his chin in a stubborn angle. 

"At the very least, Rashid, grant me the courtesy to see the one I saved regain consciousness." 

"Bu…" 

Before Rashid could get out even one word, Quatre's voice sliced through his protest. "I know what you are going to say and no I do not intend to disobey Poseidon's Rule again. He will not see me at all." Sadness colored Quatre's voice. But he overcame it. He pointed to an outcropping of corals in the far distance. "We can conceal ourselves in those corals until such a time as the human regains consciousness." 

Quatre's tone brook no argument. Rashid found it reasonable enough so he nodded sharply and then turned towards the others. "We will fall back to the coral outcropping." 

Quatre watched as the Maguanac corps dove as one and moved towards the outcropping. Before joining them, he cast one last look at the human on the sands. 

"How I wish I could keep you." He whispered, planting a small kiss on the human's cheek. /Or at least see what your eyes would look like./ And before Rashid could turn around and reprimand him, Quatre dived into the ocean and overtook the Maguanac corp. 

*** 

Princess Catherine of Adelniss was out taking her morning walk on the beach with her ladies-in-waiting. The ladies were all laughing and chattering about the grand ball that had been held last night. 

"Oh Princess Catherine, I feel sure that His Highness Prince Siegfried is going to offer for your hand." 

Catherine put forth a very unprincesslike snort, ruffling a few strands of silky brown locks that had somehow managed to come out of her well-coifed hair. "Siegfried is a cockatrice…a well decked cockatrice with no brains. I would rather die than have him as the sire of my children." 

"But, Your Highness, he comes from a very good lineage…" 

"What good would lineage do my children if they grow up into idiots? Besides, who ever said I was going to marry?" 

Catherine told them and with a flounce of her skirts, she walked faster, leaving her gaping ladies behind. The ladies all blinked at the princess and as one rolled their eyes. Catherine was headstrong and always spoke her mind which frightened off any and all suitors who tried for her hand. The King of Adelniss was in despair at the situation as it was. 

"Ho, Ladies! I see something up ahead. I am going to investigate." Catherine shouted at them for a distance. "Follow at your own leisure." 

And with that Catherine hiked up her skirts and ran towards the curiosity on the sands. 

/It is a boy./ She quickly discovered as she drew closer. An almost naked-boy wrapped in shredded finery./Probably a noble./ 

/Now where is his ship?/ Catherine blinked and surveyed the ocean, noting the various flotsam and jetsam that floated about and came to a conclusion. /Shipwrecked from the storm yesterday, the poor soul./ 

Catherine knelt down and brushed the bangs from his eyes. "Here now, My Lord. Are you awake?" She shook him gently. 

With a tired moan, eyelids opened to reveal the most verdantly green eyes Catherine ever saw. And she found herself falling in their depths. 

Somewhere in the distance, a splashing sound was barely audible as a glistening sapphire blue tail disappeared into the ocean depths. The human now awake, the Prince of the Seas was now forced to go back to the ocean depths where he belonged. 

*** 

"And so I told Adana that I'd ask you. What do you think…" Iria trailed off noticing that her companion was not listening to her. Quatre was staring off into the distance with a faraway look in his eyes. 

Her lips turned down in a moue of dissatisfaction. Here she was trying to alleviate the pall of sadness which her brother was indulging in for days now and he wasn't even paying attention. She whacked Quatre playfully with her amber tail. "Quatre! What is it with you today? 

"Wha..what? Oh Iria, I didn't notice you. Were you saying something?" Quatre snapped out of his preoccupied state to look at his sister who was now reclining in his seabed beside him. 

Iria rolled her eyes. "No, I was just shouting at you to exercise my lungs." She put her arms akimbo. "Of course I was saying something, flounder face!" 

Quatre smiled an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Its just that I've been thinking." 

"Well. It must be something really serious, sea-ling. You've been doing it for days now." Iria told him, wrapping her arms around her brother. "What is it about?" 

If it was anybody else, Quatre would have just waved his hands and closed his mouth. But this was Iria, his closest sister, his heartsib. 

/But can she help me? Or understand?/ 

Quatre shook his head. No, he didn't think that Iria for all her empathy would ever understand what was bothering her little sea-ling. So instead of replying to Iria's question, he used the time-tested tactic guaranteed to divert the attention of his easily distracted sister. 

"Er, what were you saying before Iria?" 

Iria frowned at Quatre. "You aren't going to distract me that easily, little brother!" 

"Its something about Adana was it not?" Quatre gently prodded with an innocent smile on his face. 

"Why, yes, Adana was just saying…" Iria narrowed her eyes. "Quatre! You did it again!" 

Aquamarine eyes similar to Iria's danced as the merboy laughed. 

Iria's irritation vanished when she heard her brother laugh. It had been days since she had heard the melodious sound. 

"Oh, Iria. You are just too easy to distract." 

Iria whacked Quatre again gently. "Dreadfully disrespectful of you to say so, sea-ling!" 

"But its true, nonetheless!" Quatre protested, swimming out of Iria's range to avoid getting hit by the tail again. 

Iria grinned. "Yes it is and you're the only one allowed to say it to my face." 

"Iria!! Quatreeee!" 

Both of them swiveled their heads to the shrill sound of one of their sisters screaming in the hallway. 

"Oh Iria! Did you ask him already?" 

Quatre winced. "What does Adana want?" 

Iria blinked. "Suffering seahorses! That was what I was telling you about. Adana and the others found a new sunken ship in the Astorian Sea. We're going to go treasure hunting and I was going to ask you to come along." 

Quatre perked up noticeably at her words. Iria and the others knew of Quatre's obsession with human things and the merboy never passed up a chance to investigate those. She smiled a little and teased the prince. "Of course, if you're too busy thinking to go, we can always leave you behind." 

Her only answer was a very excited merboy dragging her out of the room at full speed, almost bumping Adana over. "Come on Adana! Swim faster!" Quatre shouted at his sister, never slowing down. 

/Quatre is just so predictable./ Iria thought to herself as she allowed herself to be dragged all the way to where their other sisters waited for them. She still didn't know what was bothering the merboy though. /That can wait for another day./ 

*** 

The royal entourage made of 29 princesses, a prince and the whole Maguanac corps surrounded the sunken ship, inspecting the materials left behind. 

"Oh, oh look, Cara! Look at this funny contraption." 

"And this! What could this be for?" 

"Who knows? These humans make such strange things!" 

Girlish giggles echoed on the sea floor. 

Rashid ordered the Maguanacs to guard the perimeter of the ship to protect his royal charges. 

"Abdul! Make sure none of the princess or the prince wanders away from the perimeter." 

"Yes, Captain!" 

Abdul saluted Rashid and proceeded to circle the perimeter of the ship. /This looks so familiar somehow./ He thought as he saw every inch of the ship's wrecked hull. 

He did not immediately place it but it was the same doomed ship from which Prince Quatre had rescued the human days ago. 

*** 

Quatre had noticed immediately upon laying his eyes on the vessel that this was the ship his human had been on. The human he had saved, the very same one plaguing his mind right now. 

Of course, he did not betray the fact that he recognized the ship to anyone. Not after the bristling talking-to he had received from Rashid. Besides that, Rashid had taken to shadowing him like a rabid shark, wherever he went. And if he ever went near the beach where he had left his human, the Maguanac captain would block his way and turn him back home. 

If he told the others that this was the ship, he was certain that Rashid would whisk him away from here faster than a wriggling eel with a severe case of hyperactivity. 

/Maybe there is something here he owns. O Poseidon, let it be so./ Quatre thought as he left behind his giggling sisters in the main cabin and quietly swam past the wooden corridors slowly warping as the sea water permeated every pore of the wood. 

Maybe Poseidon condoned his actions or loved Quatre dearly…or maybe it was just pure luck but as Quatre reached the end of the corridors, he cried out in delight at what he saw. 

In front of him was a very familiar face blindly staring out towards him with a small smile on his face. 

/He's here! My human is here!/ 

Quatre swam towards the figure, hugging it with all his might. /He's cold!/ 

It took a few seconds for him to register that this was not his human. It was a reasonable facsimile but it was not the human. He came to this conclusion when he realized that instead of yielding, silky skin, he encountered cold hard stone. Also, the pallor was not right. There was no color to this facsimile, it was made of white marble… 

/Stupid! Even if it was him, he'd die. How can he breathe here in the water?/ 

It didn't stop him from wishing it was though. He yearned to see him. 

/Stop it, Quatre! Moping will never get you anything. Look on the brighter side of the ocean!/ It was still something of his human and Quatre delighted in it, latching onto it and staring unmoving into the beloved face, crooning. 

This was the exact same position on which Iria found Quatre in when she finally noticed that her brother had disappeared and went to search for him. 

She was surprised and not a little bit curious at the happiness she could see in Quatre's eyes as he embraced what seemed to be a piece of…rock. 

"Quatre? What are you doing?" 

"Isn't he beautiful, Iria?" Quatre crooned dreamily, not bothering to turn around to look at Iria. 

/What's so beautiful about a rock?/ Iria thought. "Quatre…I hate to tell you this but you're hugging a rock." 

Quatre glared at her then. "It is not just any rock! It's a rock that looks like him!" 

"Him? Who him?" Iria said, confused. 

Quatre looked back at the statue. "My human." 

"HuMaaannn!!!!" Iria shrieked in surprise. 

"Yes, Iria, human." Quatre said, twitching a little as his sister's piercing scream entered sensitive ears. This effectively snapped him out of his trance-like state of adoring worship. "Do be a little more quiet, sister. I am not deaf." 

Iria looked at Quatre oddly. "How can you tell me to keep quiet when you just said human? And how come I never heard of it before today. You never said anything to father about this." 

/Really. Who could ever believe that the prim proper Iria everyone sees at court can be such a nagging er, narwahl./ 

"I suppose I should have told father that I rescued a human? Why don't I just swim up to the surface and let myself be captured in the human's nets while I'm at it?" 

Iria blinked at Quatre's sarcasm and then subsided. "Good point. But rescued a human? And what is it with this *my* you keep talking about?" 

"Iria, it's a long story, I really don't think you want to hear…" 

"I have the time." Iria interrupted. A determined gleam was in her blue-green eyes, one that told Quatre that she would not stop until she got what she wanted. 

*** 

"Great White Whale! Quatre! What have you done?" Iria burst out as soon as Quatre finished his story. 

I didn't exactly plan to do what I did, Iria. Its not as if I wanted to." He said miserably, looking up at the statue. Iria noticed that he hadn't let go once ever since he had latched onto it. 

Iria sighed with him, shaking her head. "That empathic heart of yours always gets you into trouble." 

"I know." Quatre sighed, absently stroking the cold stone and hugging it tighter. 

Iria frowned. After everything that Quatre had told her she was sure of one thing…this obsession her brother had with humans had just gone a notch more dangerous…the Prince of the Sea had fallen in love, fallen in love with a human. 

He might not have said it or realized it. Iria would willingly bet that it was the latter. Quatre was relatively more innocent than the others when it came to love, being unused to such an emotion from other merpeople other than his sisters. 

Being the youngest had its disadvantages, mainly remaining relatively unnoticed in the sea of siblings, eventhough he was the only male. That did not count in the mer-world. Unlike the humans' society, the mermanoid society did not place much stock on gender. Rissa, as first-born princess would be heir. That meant that Quatre being the last child was nothing more than what he was…a prince. Only his sisters and Rashid ever paid attention to him. Not that Quatre ever asked for anything more. 

The worst thing Iria could ever have dreamt of had happened. Quatre had fallen in love. It was not that Iria didn't want her brother to fall in love but she wanted to have prepared him for it at the very least. 

/And to a human!/ Iria was horrified. How could such a relationship work out after all. They were from different worlds… 

"Iria! What does this say?" 

Lost in her thoughts, Iria had not noticed that Quatre had been circling the statue and had found an inscription at the bottom, to which he pointed at. 

"Hmmnnn…" She squinted. Iria, among al the princesses, had studied human writing. "It says…In com…comme…" She stumbled a bit at the unfamiliar writing. "…commemoration of his 17th birthday. His Majesty, King Trowa Barton of Astoria." 

"Trowa." Quatre said the name under his breath lovingly. "So that's his name." 

Iria watched as her brother went into ecstasies over the inscription. She couldn't help noticing the happiness that suffused his features. 

/Oh, Quatre! To feel the happiness of the emotion love is a gift from the gods themselves. But why did you have to fall for a human?/ 

/Astoria!/ Quatre realized that the kingdom would be near where they were now since this part of the ocean was called the Astorian Sea. His heart beat faster. Maybe, maybe if he would be able to go to the surface right now, he would be able to catch a glimpse of his human…his Trowa. 

He shot out of the room with a heave of his tail. 

"Quatre, where are you going?" Iria called after him. 

"Just to the surface, Iria. I want to see something." Quatre shouted out, not stopping at all for fear that Iria or one of the Maguanacs would block him from his desired course of action. 

/Great God of the Sea! Please let me see him. Just this once, please let me see him./ 

TBC ^_~ 

Kill Swyth-chan? Stupid Chapter? Nice enough? This was meant to be a really short fic but as always my muses ran away with it.o.O I'm not even in the part where Quatre turns human…whacks muses>   
Tyrcel: glares>Hey, what was that for?   
Swyth-chan: For being muses of epic proportions...   
Tyrcel: That's Rayne's fault not mine...   
Rayne: Well blame Tyrcel for lagging on fic ideas...   
Swyth-chan: dryly>Well maybe if you both concentrate on my fics more than on each other, we'd get somewhere faster...   
Tyrcel and Rayne: @_@;;; 


	3. Silent Yearning

Next part Next part! I actually almost forgot about this ficcie. sweatdrops>I hope its still interesting. ^^ Sorry about the tenses, I always have problems with tenses…they're too…tense lol> 

Author: Swythangel   
Email: swythangel@hotmail.com   
Title: To Heed the Heart's Desire   
Rating: PG (for shounen ai content)   
Warnings: Strong Language, Slash, Fantasy AU   
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Bandai and a passel of other people I never bothered to find out about. It just depresses me to see all those bishies as someone else's property.   
Archive: ff.net 

**To Heed the Heart's Desire**   
**Part 3**

Bright banners in the Astorian Royal Family's colors fluttered gaily in the breeze atop the shiny turrets jutting out of the beautiful castle. 

This castle bore testimony to centuries of benevolent rule of great kings, its own structure standing so proudly on the mountain crag it was situated in, to loom protectively over the valley that was its subject's home. 

Today, unlike any normal day, all the windows and doorways of the castle were filled to the brim with waving servants and lords. Everyone had turned out to welcome back the sovereign they had thought dead for a fortnight now. 

As soon as the gilded horse drawn carriage came into view, a deafening cheering broke out, startling Trowa into a surprised daze. 

"They seem so happy to see me…" 

A deep Eastern-accented voice let out a throaty chuckle beside him. "What do you expect? You *are* their monarch after all. And after believing you dead…" 

"But I haven't done anything to merit this…this…affection." Trowa blinked. He was still overwhelmed by the intensity of emotion being shown. 

Wufei shrugged and leaned back. "Just having you back is enough reason for them to celebrate. Besides, logically, they have much to be happy about." 

"Why is that?" 

"Because a country without a monarch can be plunged into war by greedy kings and pretentious would-be kings." 

"That is true. You always come across as so logical, Chang." 

Wufei smiled smugly. "Of course. I am Chang Wufei, scholar extraordinaire." 

Trowa arched an eyebrow at Wufei's smugness. "Not to mention errant prince who ditched his country to travel the world?" 

Wufei's face fell. "I am not ditching my country as you call it. I am merely perusing other cultures to compare methods and incorporate them in my own country. Are you insulting me, Trowa?" 

The Easterner was huffing by now at the supposed slight to his honor and had stood up. Unfortunately he had forgotten that the carriage had a low slung ceiling and his head bumped the padded wooden roof. 

Trowa laughed. "Sit down, Wufei. I was joking. Gods, you are so easy to rile." 

The raven-haired youth sat back down and whacked Trowa lightly on the back of his neck. "And you, King Trowa of Astoria, love riling me." 

"You noticed? It's one of my most favorite pastimes." 

"Idiot." Wufei muttered. "And wave to your people, Trowa." 

Trowa obeyed the imperious command, waving and smiling at the people lining the streets. "I suppose this has a logical explanation behind it as well." 

Wufei arched his thin eyebrows. "What do *you* think?" 

Trowa burst out in delighted laughter. It was good to be home. 

*** 

Trowa stepped out into his balcony and breathed in the fresh sea air. It had been two weeks since he had been able to do so and he missed the smell of the Astorian sea. 

Of course, his room in Adelniss had overlooked the sea too but it wasn't the same. He had longed for this particular balcony all of his stay there. He missed everything about it…from the white marble railing to the unchanging scenery. 

He could describe the scene to anyone blindfolded…tell everyone of the three rock outcroppings that formed a rough triangle in the east where the sun would rise in its exact center every dawn and how the sun would set in the west at the exact center of a rock's sharpened point. He could even describe the exact hues of the ever changing sea at various points of the day...how it could reflect the orange brilliance of a dying day to the grey turbulence of a stormy hour. 

Although he loved all the aspects of the sea, he still found the blue green emerald color when the sea was at its calmest as the best. He could stare for hours on end at it. Just as he did now. 

Trowa hitched a hip on the marble railing and slowly put the flute he held to his lips. This was another thing he had missed…playing his flute here on his balcony. 

_/Scales first…/ _He told himself firmly. Much as he would want to launch into fullout playing, he knew he had to warm-up a little first. 

As his fingers danced in the well remembered patterns, his thoughts flew inescapably back to…violins. All throughout his stay in Adelniss it had been the one thing occupying his thoughts. Whoever the violinist was, he knew that he or she would have been the one who rescued Trowa. 

Who was it? 

It had been the first thing he had asked when he had regained consciousness. Unfortunately he had received no answer. Neither Princess Catherine or anyone else in Adelniss had ever heard of a violin much less have a violinist in the court. 

Trowa did not give up though…asking everyone who was with the Princess when she had found him on the beach if they had seen anyone else besides him. They all answered the same thing…no one had been with him. Trowa must have been delirious, they said, and had imagined the whole thing. 

And yet… 

Yet he could distinctly remember hearing the sweet strains of a violin playing when he had regained consciousness for a time…He was sure it hadn't been delirium, no delirium could ever produce such a hauntingly sweet sound. 

Trowa's brows knitted in annoyance and it was reflected in the scales he had been doing. 

/Who are you? Where are you?/ 

And then out of nowhere, a burst of sound reached his ears, a light beautiful sound of pure delight tripping in the air and somehow enticing Trowa to join it. He lifted his flute to his lips and did so, weaving flute into the lighthearted violin strains. 

The duet was a light mix of flirting laughter, a game of catch, with the violin leading Trowa into the melody and Trowa following behind willingly, matching each note easily. 

Trowa lost himself in the music, closing his eyes as he followed. He knew that this was the violin player who had rescued him. There was no doubt in his heart that it was. 

_/He came back…/_

Somehow the thought made Trowa happy. 

_/This time I will not let you go without knowing who you are./_

*** 

"Beautiful…" 

Quatre opened his eyes as the song ended, smiling in delight at having found his human immediately upon surfacing. It had been sop long since he had last seen him that he had unthinkingly gone closer and closer until he almost hugged the face of the mountain. 

When the human and started playing, he couldn't help himself. It had been so long since he had last sang with anyone, ever since Duo had been called back by his father…and it had been just beautiful. 

Quatre bobbed up and down in the sea, a silly little smile on his face, basking in the last notes of the song when he heard his human, no, his Trowa, that was the human's name, throw down a quiet question. 

"You are the same violinist who played exquisitely near my boat a fortnight ago were you not?" 

_/What's a violinist?/_ Quatre wondered but he understood enough to know that his Trowa was asking if he had been the one near his boat. "Yes, yes I was." 

"Can you show yourself please? I would like to see the face of one who plays so beautifully." 

Oh Quatre was tempted, very very tempted. He wanted to, so very much that he ached inside. He wanted to introduce himself to his human. 

_/If I do I will be breaking all the rules Poseidon gave us merpeople. And we will be hunted down by humans who crave peculiaties. Would it be worth all that?/_

No, no it would not. 

With a heavy heart, Quatre whispered: "I'm sorry." 

If he was smart, Quatre knew that he should never go back to see Trowa ever again. He dove into the sea, leaving Trowa with no answer, the small ripples the only sign that he had been there at all. 

*** 

But Trowa had become like a drug in Quatre's blood, he could not get him out of his mind or heart. The green eyed King was all Quatre could think about and he could not help but come to the surface time and again. 

Trowa would always be there, perched on the same marble balcony with his flute, waiting. And every time, Quatre would launch into song to let him know that Quatre had arrived. They would play…at least the human would play and the merboy would sing…intricately difficult pieces as time passed by, sharing in song what they could not do in words. 

And at the end of the song, Trowa would ask Quatre to show himself and Quatre would disappear into the sea. 

It was enough and not enough…each yearned to be closer to each other, to know more about the other but the invisible barrier kept Quatre back and Trowa, confused, did not know what else to do. 

Trowa knew was that he asked such a simple thing…all he wanted was to see his rescuer's face, to see the face of the one who could play so exquisitely. He even had a mind to ask the boy to stay at the castle but he was afraid as to how the other boy would react if he did so if the simple request of showing his face was enough to frighten the boy. 

A boy…Trowa never thought that it would be a boy but sure enough, the melodious voice, light though it was, belonged to a boy. _/A very beautiful boy if the voice was any indication./_

How could he even properly thank him if he didn't want to show himself? Trowa was very frustrated. Not being able to carry out a decent conversation irked him. He almost had a mind to go out in the shallows with a small boat and wait for the boy to show up. He was quite certain that the boy rowed out to the mountain's edge every afternoon for their daily duet…but if he did, Trowa was sure that he would frighten the boy away. And he didn't want that to happen. 

Therefore he was at an impasse. He could not force the boy yet gentle prodding had proved unsuccessful. He didn't know what to do… 

*** 

Quatre swam out to the surface again, leaving Rashid with a disgruntled look on his face. As usual, he had told Rashid that he was off to visit Duo. And since the Maguanacs found his hyperactive best friend very trying, they had opted to be left behind. After all, the Merduke Maxwell's guards would be ample enough protection for the Prince of the Sea. 

Of course Quatre took the seahorses to alleviate suspicion but halfway to Duo's he turned at the nearest coral bed that bordered the Astorian sea and shot up to the surface. 

He knew it was wrong of him to do so but he couldn't help it. His need to see Trowa had become like the air he breathed. He couldn't go without him. 

*** 

"Your name is Trowa is it not?" 

Quatre said, softly, not daring to increase the volume for fear that anyone else might hear. They had just finished another song and Quatre, who did not want to go yet, wanted to stop Trowa from asking the question he could not answer or give in to. So he did it in the only way he knew how. 

"Why yes, yes it is." 

"It's a very beautiful name." Quatre said sincerely. "Like waves ebbing in the distance." 

"Thank you." The pleasure in Trowa's voice was clear. "You say that like you love the sea." 

A smile curved Quatre's lips. "I do love the sea." 

"I'm not surprised. I do too. We seem to share that." 

Silence. Quatre didn't know what to say to that without revealing what and who he was. 

It was Trowa who spoke out. 

"Well since you already know *my* name, do you not think it is only fair that you give me yours?" 

Quatre's heart skipped a bit. Surely nothing wrong would come out of giving his name to Trowa. "Quatre." He said. "Its Quatre." 

"Quatre." Trowa tested the sound on his lips and found that it felt like it belonged on his lips. "That's a beautiful name." 

The compliment fell on the silent ocean as Trowa found that the boy had disappeared again as silently as he had come. 

_/Quatre…well that's a start, I would think./_

Trowa smiled. At last he was making progress. 

*** 

"I'm going to Duo's, Rashid. Don't bother coming with me." Quatre said cheerfully as he passed the Maguanac captain. 

Rashid's features scrunched up in an unreadable mask. "It seems that Your Highness has been spending entirely too much time with the Duke's son. I do not find that advisable." 

"Oh Rashid!" Quatre said with a laugh. "Duo's not so bad. And he's my best friend. Besides, he comes from the few families father approves of." 

And with that Quatre swam unto one of the seahorses in the stable and waved to Rashid. "Well, I'll be off. Better to catch the undercurrent to Duo's." 

Rashid watched his young master go with apprehension and a nagging suspicion that the Prince was hiding something from him. 

*** 

Quatre had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen. He couldn't shake off the feeling. And wondered if it had anything to do with Rashid. The Maguanac captain had definitely been suspicious of his actions for some time now. 

Quatre felt guilty for lying all the time and for using Duo as a cover but he didn't know what else to do. He could not tell Rashid because he knew what the Maguanac captain would do if he found out where Quatre spent his afternoons. And he could not give up Trowa. He would sooner give up breathing than give up Trowa. 

The problem turned itself over and over in his mind, so much that he didn't realize that he was at the coral bed junction where he always went up to the surface. Fortunately, his seahorse Sandrock, knew the way from repeated excursions and turned on its own. 

The preoccupation also made Quatre miss the slight figure on a black seahorse who was waving at him. 

"Now, where in the seven seas do you think Quatre is going, eh, Deathscythe, boy?" 

Duo, son of Duke Maxwell and Quatre's best friend said as he looked up at the fast disappearing Sandrock and the blond Prince of the Seven Seas. 

*** 

"You WHAT?" Rashid roared out at Duo who flinched at the loudness. 

"Hey Rashid! You didn't have to shout you know. I'm right beside you." Duo grumbled, rubbing at his ear. "You just might have deafened me for life." 

"I am sorry, Your Lordship. But can you kindly repeat what you just said." 

Duo whuffled the bangs out of his face and tugged at his long braid in exasperation. "Honestly Rashid. I think you're getting too old for your job. Your hearing is going or is it your memory? Can't you remember? I just told you." 

At any other time, Rashid would have winced at the barrage of words from the hyperactive merboy in front of him but right now he was too intent on the news the young lord had just unwittingly imparted. "Humor me." He said in a hard voice. 

Loud sigh. "All right, all right. I just told you that I was happily riding Deathscythe towards the palace to visit Quatre seeing that I haven't seen him for a very long time now…" 

"He has been visiting your Lordship for 2 consecutive weeks." Rashid interrupted with narrowed eyes. 

"Eh?" Duo scratched his head. "Well if he had I have never seen a scale or fin of him…you're mistaken Rashid." 

Rashid's black brows drew even tighter together. "And you were saying, Lord Duo?" 

Duo brightened oblivious to the simmering Maguanac. "Ah yes…I was just saying that I am very hurt that he did not say he was going to go up into the surface. He knows I love treasure hunting and sightseeing," 

The Maguanac didn't even wait for Duo to finish as he swam away in agitated strokes, yelling out for the whole Maguanac corp to assemble. 

Duo frowned. "Really! Dreadfully rude of Rashid to just get up and leave. With his scales all ruffled too." 

He swam after the Maguanac captain to say so when he heard the Maguanac captain dress every Maguanac guard down for allowing the Prince to even go up to the surface without monitoring his actions. 

"Uh oh…" Duo said to himself. "Looks like I got Cat into trouble." 

TBC ^_~ Comments are dearly sought after. And boy I love an oblivious Duo! Oh oh, the duet I was trying to describe (and failing miserably at ^^;) was the duet in the OPeration 1 CD of Trowa and Quatre. I love that so much that I played it continuously the first time I got it. IF anyone wants the mp3 of it I'd gladly send it out ^^ 

Next Part: The Evil Sea Witch Dorothy! Ahohohoho! 


End file.
